Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Parental Leave and Parental Pay

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Government will introduce the right to 12 weeks neonatal leave and pay for parents of babies under 28 days who spend more than 7 days in hospital.

Dean Russell: The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill, introduced by the Hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East as a Private Member's Bill and backed by the Government, will deliver these changes. It is currently progressing through Parliament and has now completed Commons Committee Stage.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Work Experience

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people under the age of 18 have undertaken work experience in his Department in the last 12 months.

Dean Russell: Requests for people to undertake work experience in the Department for Business, Energy and industrial Strategy are managed locally, and the information is not held centrally.

Small Businesses: Billing

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the audit reform bill will help support small businesses resolve late payment issues.

Dean Russell: The Government already has a range of measures in place to help small businesses resolve late payment issues. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives businesses a right to statutory interest and debt recovery costs if not paid on time. The office of the Small Business Commissioner addresses complaints by small business suppliers about payment related issues with larger businesses. The Commissioner also provides general advice and information to assist small business in their supply relationships with larger business, including advice or information that will help them to resolve and avoid disputes.

Post Offices: Bank Services

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to help ensure that the Post Office Community Network is able to handle increased demands for over the counter banking services.

Dean Russell: Over the past ten years, the Government has provided over £2.5 billion in funding to support the Post Office network. Government is providing a further £335 million for the Post Office over the next three years. We are confident that with this funding, Post Office can continue to meet the core requirements for the network and ensure post office services will remain available to communities across the country. Post Office is a commercial business that operates independently of Government. How post offices are responding to increased demand for banking services is a matter for Post Office Ltd.

Help to Grow Schemes

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 26th May 2022 to Question 5404 on Help to Grow, when his Department plans to publish data on take up and completion of the Help to Grow Programmes; and how often he plans to publish updates of that data.

Dean Russell: We intend to publish data on take up of both the Help to Grow programmes on the Gov.uk website by the end of December and thereafter on a yearly basis. Help to Grow: Management will support up to 30,000 small business leaders to improve their leadership and management capability and enhance their growth through world-leading business schools. Help to Grow: Digital could help up to 100,000 eligible SMEs adopt new digital technologies over three years as it offers businesses targeted financial support.

Franchises

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the British Franchise Association report entitled 2018 Franchise landscape: Brought to you by the BFA and NatWest, which found that failure rates for franchises remain very low, if he will take steps to launch a public campaign in support of the franchise model.

Dean Russell: The Government has no current plans to launch any campaign on this issue.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Training

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on how many occasions the provision of mandatory training for his Departmental staff regarding their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 has been cited by his Department as a defence against Section 109 proceedings since the commencement of that Act.

Dean Russell: BEIS does not hold this information centrally. Conducting a search of all Section 109 proceedings for the citing of mandatory training as a defence would incur disproportionate costs.

Companies House: Reform

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussion his Department has had with representatives of (a) Spotlight on Corruption, (b) Transparency International and (c) Royal United Services Institute on reform to Companies House in the last six months.

Jackie Doyle-Price: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly engages with external stakeholders to discuss proposals relating to Companies House reform. Officials in the Department recently hosted a series of engagement sessions to discuss Companies House reforms within the forthcoming Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill in August and September 2022. Representatives from Spotlight on Corruption, Transparency International and Royal United Services Institute were invited.

Sanctions: Russia

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support the public identification of foreign-based businesses that continue to trade with individuals and entities sanctioned as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Dean Russell: Enforcement of sanctions as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine falls outside the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. HMRC is responsible for enforcement of UK Trade Sanctions and Strategic Export controls and works closely with Border Force to conduct customs checks and where necessary, seize goods at the port. Since my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s announcement in the House of Commons on 24 February 2022 of increased sanctions on Russia, HMRC has implemented a number of measures which aim to prevent the exportation and importation of restricted goods. HMRC has a range of enforcement options available such as awareness through outreach, warning letters, issuing compound penalties, seizures / disruptions and in the most serious of cases, referral to the Crown Prosecution Service for consideration for prosecution. HMRC works with other government departments and international partners to assist in identifying high-risk movements.

Department of Health and Social Care

Abortion

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the process for recording complications on the abortion notification HSA4 form captures complications arising after the time of discharge for (a) at-home medical abortion and (b) other patients.

Dr Caroline Johnson: In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967 and the Abortion Regulations 1991, all abortions performed in England must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days.  Any complication known at the time the notification is submitted should be recorded on the HSA4 abortion notification form.  Generally, the HSA4 form does not capture complications arising after the time of discharge for either at-home medical abortion or other patients.In 2021, the Department conducted a review which identified where action could be taken to improve the quality of data available on abortion complications, including the impact of home use on abortion complication rates. Officials are now progressing this work.

Electronic Cigarettes: Packaging

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of regulations on vaping and e-cigarette packaging.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 set out restrictions on packaging, product standards, advertising, and enforcement. We are exploring whether any additional measures could be introduced to prevent children from vaping, including restrictions related to vaping and e-cigarette packaging.

Smoking

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is still her Department's policy for England to be smokefree by 2030.

Dr Caroline Johnson: We remain committed to making England smoke-free by 2030.

Smoking: Health Services

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she plans to take to improve access to smoking cessation services.

Dr Caroline Johnson: Through the Public Health Grant, we are supporting stop smoking services and ensuring that individual smokers have the best chance of quitting. Local authorities are responsible for providing stop smoking services and are best placed to make decisions about improving access to local services.

Food: Marketing

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department plans to introduce restrictions on where stores can display food high in sugar or fat in October 2022.

Dr Caroline Johnson: Regulations made on 2 December 2021 to restrict the promotion of products high in fat, salt or sugar by location in medium and large businesses and those with 50 or more employees, will come into force in October 2022.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement in the Women's Health Strategy, on 20 July 2022, of 25 new mobile breast screening units, in which areas those units will be targeted.

Wes Streeting: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement in the Women's Health Strategy, on 20 July 2022, of 25 new mobile breast screening units, what her Department's timetable is for bringing all of those units into operation.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The Department is working with NHS England to finalise the delivery of £10 million for breast screening units, including those areas which will benefit from this investment. All units will be delivered within the 2022/23 financial year.

Cardiovascular Diseases

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the prevalence of (a) heart and (b) other circulatory diseases.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is addressing the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including through smoking cessation and supporting local government to modernise the preventative NHS Health Check. The Department is working with NHS England to improve the detection, monitoring and treatment of atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Migraines

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with the Migraine Trust on (a) awareness of migraines amongst employers and (b) the relationship between the menopause and migraines.

Dr Caroline Johnson: There have been no recent discussions. However, officials regularly engage with stakeholders, including the Migraine Trust, on a range of topics such as awareness of migraines amongst employers and migraine and the menopause.

Genito-urinary Medicine: Finance

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will she provide new funding for sexual health services in England to help tackle the monkeypox virus.

Dr Caroline Johnson: In 2022/23, we have allocated more than £3.4 billion to local authorities in England to fund public health services, including sexual and reproductive health services. We are working with local authorities, the National Health Service and other stakeholders to identify how local health and care systems can address pressures on sexual and reproductive health services and maintain access.

Dementia: Health Services

Mr Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many civil servants will be allocated to work on the delivery of the National Dementia Mission.

Neil O'Brien: At this stage, we are currently unable to confirm the specific number of civil servants who will be allocated to work on the delivery of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, announced on 14 August 2022.

Care Workers: Pay

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recommendations of the Migration Advisory Committee's report entitled Adult social care and immigration, published in April 2022, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of the Government introducing a fully funded minimum rate of pay for care workers in England that is above the National Living Wage, where care is being provided through public funds.

Neil O'Brien: We have had no specific discussions and there are no current plans to introduce a rate of pay for care workers above the National Living Wage.

Social Services: Pay

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Market sustainability and fair cost of care fund 2022 to 2023: guidance, updated in August 2022, what discussions she has had with the adult social care sector regarding incorporating equitable rates of pay for care staff in the fair cost of care analysis.

Neil O'Brien: We have committed £1.36 billion over three years to the Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care Fund to support local authorities to prepare markets for reform and move towards paying providers a fair cost of care. We have engaged with providers and local government on the approach to implementation and to develop the guidance for the Fund, published in March 2022.

Monkeypox: Vaccination

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when her Department expects to make an assessment of the efficacy of the monkeypox vaccine fractional dosing pilot.

Dr Caroline Johnson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Oxford East (Anneliese Dodds MP) on 22 September 2022 to Question 49245.

Midwives

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that midwives are working to the Future Midwife Standards as published by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Dr Caroline Johnson: Health Education England (HEE) is working with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and other partners to support the implementation of the Future Midwife Standards. This includes the delivery of joint regional workshops with the NMC, Royal College of Midwives and NHS England to provide support to Heads and Directors of Midwifery to implement the standards and raise awareness of the alignment to the Ockenden and Turning the Tide reports.HEE hosts two modules on the e-Learning for Healthcare platform which provide information and support in relation to the standards. The ‘Standards for Student Supervision and Assessment Update’ module is available to all National Health Service nursing and midwifery staff, which refreshes the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to support learners. Aligned to the NMC’s standards for supervision and assessment, the ‘Practice Educator and Assessor Preparation’ module is designed to prepare educators and assessors in all nursing, midwifery and allied health profession fields.

Monkeypox: Vaccination

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure an adequate supply of monkeypox vaccines.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has procured over 150,000 doses of the smallpox vaccines effective against monkeypox and further doses are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom during September 2022. There have been global issues with the supply of the vaccines due to availability and the necessary time for manufacturers to produce the vaccines.Three National Health Service sites have commenced a pilot offering eligible patients smaller, equally effective doses of these vaccines to prolong existing supplies. This is a safe and clinically approved approach known as ‘fractional dosing’, which has been commonly used in other worldwide outbreaks when vaccine supplies are constrained. The UKHSA is monitoring demand and remain in discussions with the manufacturer to procure further doses as required.

Death: Weather

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help prevent cold home deaths in winter 2022-23.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will publish its annual review of the ‘Cold weather plan for England’ shortly. The plan is developed based on the advice provided by Government Departments and agencies, including the UKHSA, the Department for Health and Social Care, the Cabinet Office, the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Met Office, NHS England, local authorities, the Local Government Association and Age UK.It aims to prevent the major avoidable effects on health during periods of cold weather by alerting people to the negative health effects and enabling them to prepare and respond appropriately.

HIV Infection

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help people who were born with HIV to transfer from paediatric care to adult clinics; and what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that those adult clinics are able to meet the needs of young adults.

Dr Caroline Johnson: Children and young people living with HIV receive care from paediatric services commissioned according to the paediatric HIV service specification. This includes specific reference to supporting the transition to adult services. Children and young people are supported through the individual options discussed with their health professional on the transition process. The delivery of the clinical care is supported through the data recorded by the Children’s HIV and Aids Reporting System (CHARS) database. All children and young people living with HIV in England seen for paediatric HIV care are monitored by CHARS until the transition to adult services. This enables the clinical teams to record treatment and prescribing information and supports the continuity of care.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Integrated Care Systems have been issuing the protein-based Nuvaxovid covid-19 vaccine since its approval; and what guidance her Department has issued on access to Nuvaxovid for those people who want to avoid MNRA-based vaccines.

Dr Caroline Johnson: On 15 August 2022, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that in exceptional circumstances Nuvaxovid may be used in the autumn booster vaccination programme when no alternative clinically suitable United Kingdom-approved COVID-19 vaccine is available. From the end of September 2022, individuals will be referred to centres able to provide Nuvaxovid where clinicians deem it clinically necessary.

Independent Investigation into East Kent Maternity Services

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she expects the Independent Investigation into East Kent Maternity Services by Dr Bill Kirkup to be published.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The independent inquiry’s report into maternity and neonatal services at East Kent University NHS Foundation Trust is expected to be published on 19 October 2022.

Babies: Nutrition

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to provide free formula feed to mothers living with HIV who have been advised not to breastfeed.

Dr Caroline Johnson: General practitioners (GPs) can prescribe any product considered necessary for the treatment of their patients, unless it appears on a list of specific exclusions published under the NHS (General Medical Services Contracts) (Prescription of Drugs etc.) Regulations 2004. Prescriptions dispensed to children under 16 years old are free of charge.GPs and other prescribers are responsible for their prescribing decisions. Where doctors prescribe products which are available over the counter, we expect this to happen for good clinical reasons and represent value for money for the National Health Service.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will list the (a) NHS hospitals which contain dedicated centres for the removal of failed vaginal mesh and (b) dates on which those centres became operational.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The following National Health Service hospitals provide specialised services for patients with complications of mesh inserted for urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse: - Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust;- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust;- Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust;- Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- University College Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust;- University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust; and- North Bristol NHS Foundation Trust. University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and North Bristol NHS Foundation Trust commenced delivery of services for the removal of failed vaginal mesh in November 2021 and April 2022 respectively. The remaining hospitals commenced delivery of services for the removal of failed vaginal mesh in April 2021.

Abortion: Telemedicine

Bob Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has assessed the effectiveness of MSI Reproductive Choices UK’s enhanced safeguarding pathways for telemedicine abortion services; what steps her Department is taking to help ensure (a) women and girls are being provided with adequate care when not seeing a doctor and (b) doctors can verify that telemedicine patients are not subject to coercion; and what information her Department holds on how MSI Reproductive Choices UK ensures abortions are not occurring beyond the legal time limit of ten weeks' gestation.

Dr Caroline Johnson: While no specific assessment has been made, all abortion providers must comply with legal requirements and take regard of any statutory guidance related to children, young people and vulnerable adults. All independent sector abortion providers are inspected by the Care Quality Commission and safeguarding systems and processes are included in its termination of pregnancy inspection framework. Providers must ensure that all staff are trained in recognising the signs of potential abuse in adult women and know how to respond. This includes identifying women who may require more support, such as those who are subject to sexual violence or poor social support or where there is evidence of coercion.The Department commissioned the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to develop new safeguarding guidance for those aged under 18 years old accessing telemedicine abortion services, which was published on 30 August. The guidance will ensure there is consistency across all abortion services and providers in the implementation of robust safeguarding pathways. All abortions performed in England must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days. Cases that exceed the legal limit of 10 weeks gestation and above are identified once HSA4 abortion notification forms are submitted by practitioners to the Chief Medical Officer. The Department will contact the practitioner to confirm these details and the abortion notification system is updated, if necessary.

Gambling: Addictions

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department has spent commissioning research into problem gambling in each of the last five years; and whether it is her policy that gambling harms are a public health issue.

Dr Caroline Johnson: We are committed to tackling gambling-related harms through a public health approach, recognising the potential impacts on individuals, their families, close associates and society. The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The following table shows the funding allocated for research into problem gambling through the NIHR’s research programmes in each of the last five years.2017/18£0.002018/19£0.002019/20£97,535.812020/21£121,439.682021/22£695,254.73 In 2019, the former Public Health England conducted an evidence review of gambling-related harms. The cost of research commissioned through this review was £8,000.

Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help young people and families access mental health support for eating disorders.

Dr Caroline Johnson: We are investing an additional £53 million per year in children and young people's community eating disorder services from 2021/22 to enhance the capacity of the 70 new or improved community eating disorder teams. We also invested a further £79 million in 2021/22 to expand children’s mental health services to allow 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services. This will increase the number of mental health support teams in schools and colleges to 400 by 2023/24, supporting nearly three million children.

Mental Health Bill (2022) (Draft)

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of how effectively the draft Mental Health Bill addresses concerns raised by respondents to the consultation on Reforming the Mental Health Act, updated 24 August 2021, on how the reforms will serve the needs of children and young people.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her White Paper on Reforming the Mental Health Act 1983, what steps her Department will take to (a) engage with stakeholders on and (b) assess the potential merits of policy proposals in that paper.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her White Paper on Reforming the Mental Health Act 1983, if her Department will provide for pre-legislative scrutiny of any legislation arising from that paper.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The Government published the draft Mental Health Bill on 27 June, which is currently subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint Parliamentary committee. The Government consulted on the proposals for legislation which were made by the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act in 2018 and through the responses received to the Reforming the Mental Health Act white paper. We have also worked with charities to gather the views of those who were either in inpatient services or had lived experience of the Act, including children and young people. This has informed the development of the draft Bill.

LGBTQ+ People: Alcoholic Drinks

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she plans to take to help tackle alcohol harm in LGBTQ+ communities.

Dr Caroline Johnson: Through the Government’s 10-year drug strategy ‘From harm to hope: A 10-year drugs plan to cut crime and save lives’, we are investing £532 million over three years to support local authority commissioned substance misuse treatment services in England. The strategy also committed to developing a national drug and alcohol commissioning quality standard, which was published in August. This standard will require authorities to commission services to meet the diverse needs of local populations, including for those with protected characteristics.Local authorities are responsible for allocating the investment in drug and alcohol services and do so based upon an assessment of the local population’s health needs. Local authorities must also do so according to the new commissioning quality standard. Local authorities will also receive increased support for workforce development to ensure greater staffing capacity and competence to provide these services.

Food: Labelling

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of calorie labelling on menus for those living with eating disorders since April 2022.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The Department continues to evaluate the impact of the out of home calorie labelling Regulations and is commissioning additional research to ensure that the impact on those with lived experience of eating disorders is considered. The Department will publish a post-implementation review within five years of the policy’s implementation.

Miscarriage: Health Services

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her policy is on providing specialist NHS help to every mother following a miscarriage.

Dr Caroline Johnson: It is our ambition that every maternity service should have a bereavement specialist midwife. Mental health services in England have been expanded to include new mental health ‘hubs’ for new, expectant or bereaved mothers. The hubs will offer treatment for a range of mental health issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder after miscarrying or giving birth and fear of childbirth, to approximately 6,000 women in the first year. We plan to introduce a pregnancy loss certificate in England, as recommended by the interim update of the independent Pregnancy Loss Review. This will allow a non-statutory, voluntary scheme to enable parents who have experienced a loss before 24 weeks of pregnancy to record and receive a certificate to provide recognition of their loss.

Period Poverty

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward new policies to tackle period poverty.

Dr Caroline Johnson: No specific assessment has been made. However, since 2019 the National Health Service has offered period products to every hospital patient who needs them and people in custody are provided with health and hygiene products for free, including period products.Since January 2020, a Department for Education scheme provides free period products in schools and educational institutions for 16 to 19 year olds in England. In addition, since 1 January 2021, a zero rate of VAT has applied to all period products. The Period Poverty Taskforce was established in 2019. In March 2020, the work of the Period Poverty Taskforce was paused to focus on the response to the pandemic.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a timescale for the rollout of the fourth covid-19 booster vaccine to under-75s.

Dr Caroline Johnson: The autumn COVID-19 vaccination booster programme commenced on 5 September 2022 in England and National Health Service systems have been asked to offer vaccinations to eligible groups by the start of December 2022. The booster dose will be offered to residents and staff in care homes for older adults; frontline health and social care workers; carers aged 16 years old and over; all adults aged 50 years old and over; and those aged five to 49 years old in a clinical risk group or who are household contacts of someone with immunosuppression. The oldest and most vulnerable cohorts have received the first invitations. During the week commencing 5 September 2022, more than 700 care homes in England have been visited by vaccination teams. Since 7 September, approximately four million people, including those aged 75 years old and over, people who are immunosuppressed and health and care workers can book an appointment online or by calling 119. The National Health Service will extend the offer to the remaining eligible groups in due course.

Care Workers: Migrant Workers

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the Health and Care Worker visa scheme on the recruitment of care worker, care assistant and home care worker roles since February 2022.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with the Home Secretary on retaining care workers on the shortage occupation list after February 2023.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the impact of salary constraints in the adult social care sector on levels of international recruitment for that sector.

Neil O'Brien: No specific assessment has been made. The Migration Advisory Committee is currently reviewing the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) and will report its findings by the end of March 2023. The inclusion of care workers on the SOL will be considered in this review therefore this will not automatically expire after February 2023.

Social Services: Housing

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities regarding (a) housing needs for those requiring domiciliary adult social care and (b) planning for future housing stocks.

Neil O'Brien: There have been no specific discussions.

Palliative Care: Community Health Services

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking in response to recent trends in the demand for palliative and end of life care in the community.

Neil O'Brien: Palliative and end of life care services are commissioned by integrated care boards (ICBs) to meet the needs of the local population. NHS England has recently published statutory guidance to support ICBs in the duties under the Health and Care Act 2022, including the provision of palliative care, with explicit reference to community approaches and service provision in community settings.

Department for Education

Teachers: Training

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the criteria that his Department is using to assess applicants in round two of the initial teacher training accreditation process that closed on 27 June 2022.

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that there are accredited initial teacher training providers in all parts of England after September 2024 through its re-accreditation process of those providers.

Jonathan Gullis: Information on the new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) criteria can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999621/ITT_market_review_report.pdf and information on the accreditation process can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/initial-teacher-training-itt-accreditation.Outcomes will be communicated early in the autumn term 2022, when evaluation of the second round of applications is complete.The Department will also announce the names of all successful providers from both application rounds at that time.The reforms are supported by £35.7 million.Organisations who were interested applying for ITT accreditation were able to publicly view the application guidance and criteria via the ITT Accreditation opportunity listing on Jaggaer. Whilst this opportunity is now closed to applications, the listing and the supporting information including the application guidance and criteria is still available to view in the past opportunity page, which can be accessed at: https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html.Safeguarding teacher supply is a key priority, and this remains the case. We continue to monitor teacher sufficiency as the second round is completed and we will act if any regional deficits in provision are identified. We have engaged with the sector and are encouraging successfully accredited providers to consider expanding their partnership and provision. The formation of strong families of ITT providers, as is already the case in many areas, will help ensure that there are sufficient high-quality training places in all areas of the country. We know well trained teachers improves outcomes for pupils and helps with retention of staff.

Employment: Children

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make a comparative assessment of the equity of labour laws for children (a) working in the film industry and (b) who are influencers making money from online posts.

Jonathan Gullis: A child performance licence is required for any live broadcast, including internet streaming, or a performance recorded with a view to broadcast or public exhibition. It does not matter whether or not the child is being paid for that performance or whether it is a professional or amateur. It is also required for any performance for which a charge is made, either for admission or otherwise. This does not extend to user generated content e.g. where a child or their family record themselves and share it on a website or social media.If a child influencer was live streaming, then they should have a performance licence. Equally, if a child film star or their parents recorded them on set and shared it on their social media (even promotionally) then they would not. Both industries are subject to the same legislation in the same way. It is likely that child influencers are more likely to fall into the category of self/ family generated recorded content. This may not always be the case, particularly where the content is being sponsored by a third party, so each situation would need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Schools: Uniforms

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help support parents with the cost of school uniforms.

Jonathan Gullis: The ‘Cost of school uniform’ guidance, which was published in November 2021 and came into force at the start of September, requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents. It requires schools to:keep branded items to a minimum and limited to low cost or long-lasting itemsgive the highest priority to cost and value for money in their supply arrangementsmake second-hand uniform available for parents to acquirepublish their uniform policy on their website and ensure that this is easily understoodengage with parents and pupils on cost issues when they are developing their uniform policyHeadteachers know their school communities best and can make decisions on the branded items that are most appropriate to their school. Branded items create a sense of common identity and prevent pupils from competing against one another in the latest fashion trends. The guidance requires school leaders to carefully consider the overall cost implications of their chosen approach, including whether requiring a branded item is the most cost-effective way of achieving the desired result for their uniform. To ensure that school uniform acts as a social leveller, optional branded items should be kept to a minimum.The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.

Children: Day Care

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of inflation on costs for (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers with the impact of rising levels of inflation.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of rising energy bills on (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers with the rising cost of energy bills.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the average annual energy usage of (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers in each of the past five years.

Kelly Tolhurst: The department recognises and continues to assess the impact rising energy prices and inflation are having on nurseries, childminders and other childcare providers.On Thursday 8 September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced measures to tackle the root cause of the issues in the UK energy market including the introduction of an Energy Price Guarantee’ to limit the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity.To support childminders operating from their own home who are on domestic energy tariffs, typical UK households will pay no more than £2,500 a year on their gas and electricity bill for the next two years from Saturday 1 October. This will save the average household £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This will be in addition to the announced £400 energy bills discount for all households and together they will bring costs close to where the energy price cap stands today.There will be a new six-month scheme for businesses and all non-domestic energy users, including charities and public sector organisations. Providers in all educational sectors will therefore be eligible, including providers of childcare on non-domestic premises like nurseries.After this initial six-month scheme for non-domestic customers, the government will provide ongoing, focused support for vulnerable sectors. There will be a review in three months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.We will continue to work closely with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to monitor the impacts on the early years and childcare sector. We will share further detail with the sector in due course.

Schools: Transport

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on taking steps to support parents with the rising cost of school transport.

Jonathan Gullis: The Secretary of State for Education has regular conversations with cabinet colleagues about important and topical matters including rising costs that may affect the education sector.The Department’s home to school transport policy aims to ensure that no child is unable to access education because of a lack of transport. Local authorities must provide free home to school transport for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of distance, special educational needs or disability, or an unsafe route. There are additional rights to free transport for low-income families aimed at helping them exercise school choice. Home to school travel and transport guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.

Schools: Coronavirus

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to prepare schools for a potential increase in covid-19 cases in winter 2022 in respect of (a) helping schools to improve their ventilation and (b) minimising disruption to learning caused by staff and student absences.

Jonathan Gullis: The Department has provided over 386,000 CO2 monitors to state-funded education providers. Where maintaining good ventilation is not possible, the Department has supplied over 8,000 air cleaning units. Schools are still able to purchase air cleaning units from the online marketplace set up by the Department: https://find-dfe-approved-framework.service.gov.uk/list/air-cleaning.Most infectious diseases in education and childcare settings should be managed by following the advice set out by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities.If a school suspects an incident or outbreak, they should review and reinforce existing measures, such as ensuring that any staff or pupils with relevant symptoms do not attend the setting while they are unwell as described in UKHSA’s guidance: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/people-with-symptoms-of-a-respiratory-infection-including-covid-19.The Department’s emergency planning and response guidance sets out how education and childcare settings should plan for and deal with emergencies: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/emergency-planning-and-response-for-education-childcare-and-childrens-social-care-settings.The Department will continue to review any emerging evidence, public health guidance and advice to help ensure that schools remain as safe as possible.

Foster Care: Cost of Living

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of rising living costs on the ability of local authorities to recruit foster carers in the next two years.

Kelly Tolhurst: Local authorities have a duty to assess the needs of the looked after children in their area and ensure they secure sufficient accommodation to meet them. The department is aware of reports on the impact of cost-of-living pressures on foster care recruitment and retention and recognises the urgency of action in placement sufficiency.The department will continue to monitor reports on this issue and work with stakeholders to understand the impact. We will also prioritise working with local authorities to recruit more foster carers. This will include pathfinder local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure children have access to the right placements at the right time.The fostering national minimum standards, issued in 2011 by the former Secretary of State under the Care Standards Act 2000, set out the expectation that fostering service providers cover the full cost of caring for each child placed with a foster carer. This should include paying at least the national minimum allowance, plus any agreed expenses to cover the full cost of caring for each child placed with them, outlined in standard 28. The department expects fostering service providers to review their rates each year and to set out a clear policy on what allowance and expenses their foster carers can expect.The government has provided additional funding this year for local governments:An additional £630 million for the social care grant, bringing the total grant to around £2.35 billion.A one-off Services Grant, which is worth over £800 million, and can be used for all services.This means that local authorities have access to £54.1 billion core spending power in 2022/23 to deliver their services, including for children and young people. This is £3.7 billion more than in 2021/22.Foster carers also receive qualifying care relief that is made up of two parts: tax exemption on the first £10,000, shared equally among any foster carers in the same household, and tax relief for every week a child is in their care.

Children: Disability

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that reform programmes for SEND and children's services are joined up so that the social care needs of disabled children and their families are met.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care published its final report on 23 May 2022. The Review heard from many families raising disabled children and has made a number of recommendations for disabled children, including around family help and the need to destigmatise support. The government will publish a detailed and ambitious implementation strategy for children’s social care.The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper sets out proposals, including the creation of a single SEND and AP system in England with nationally agreed standards about the support that will be provided. The consultation closed on 22 July 2022, and the department will set out its plan for delivering improvements to the SEND and AP system later this year.The government wants the best outcomes for children and families, with an approach that aligns the response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care with the reforms to the SEND system, to meet the needs of disabled children and their families. Our plans for children’s social care and SEND reform are being drawn up in parallel and we will continue to work closely so that reforms resulting from these reviews lead to a coherent system that works for all vulnerable children.

Extracurricular Activities: Coronavirus

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of schools that have not resumed delivery of a full extra-curricular offering compared to before the covid-19 outbreak.

Kelly Tolhurst: It is up to schools to decide what extra-curricular activities to offer to pupils. This can change and the department does not ask them to provide regular data.However, the department included questions in both the School Snapshot Panel Survey and the Pupil and Parent Panel Surveys to understand provision and take up of extra-curricular activity, including the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.The information collected does not indicate how many schools have returned to the same level of provision as before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, parents and pupils have reported that the uptake of extra-curricular activities increased in the 2021/22 academic year, compared to 2020/21, as schools looked to rebuild their offer to pupils.The data can be found at:School Snapshot Panel Surveys: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-panel-covid-19.Parent, Pupil and Learner Panels: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/parent-pupil-and-learner-panel-omnibus-surveys-for-2021-to-2022.School and College Panel Oct 21: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1064835/School_and_College_Panel_Oct_21_Report_V10.pdf. We expect to publish further survey results in due course.

Schools: Uniforms

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of offering more support to families on low incomes with school uniform costs.

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to review statutory guidance on school uniforms in the context of increases in the cost of living.

Jonathan Gullis: Schools must regard the statutory guidance when they are developing and implementing their uniform policy. This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to keeping the cost of school uniform reasonable. The Department will monitor the impact of the guidance on an ongoing basis.It is important that schools carefully consider the cost of their uniform and comply with the guidance, which is designed to ensure the cost of uniforms is reasonable and secures best value for money for parents.Headteachers know their school communities best and can make decisions on the branded items that are most appropriate to their school. Branded items create a sense of common identity and prevent pupils from competing against one another in the latest fashion trends. The guidance requires headteachers to carefully consider the overall cost implications of their chosen approach, including whether requiring a branded item is the most cost-effective way of achieving the desired result for their uniform. To ensure that school uniform acts as a social leveller, optional branded items should be kept to a minimum.Schools should be compliant with the majority of the guidance by September 2022, except where this would mean breaching a pre-existing contract, or where they need time to put a contract in place.There are currently no plans to review the statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms, published in November 2021, in the context of current increases in the cost of living. The guidance comes into force this month and requires schools to ensure their uniform is affordable.

Free School Meals

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to provide free school meals to every child up to the age of 16 in state education; and if he will make a statement.

Kelly Tolhurst: Under benefits-related criteria, the department provides a free, healthy meal to around 1.9 million children, ensuring they are well-nourished and can concentrate, learn, and achieve in the classroom.This government has extended eligibility for FSM several times and to more groups of children. This includes the introduction of universal infant FSM, and further education free meals.In addition to this, the temporary extension of FSM eligibility to some groups with no recourse to public funds that had been in place since 2020 was extended to all groups and made permanent from Easter this year, subject to income thresholds.The department thinks it is right that provision is aimed at supporting the most disadvantaged, those out of work, or on the lowest incomes. We do not have any plans to extend universal provision, but the department will continue to keep FSM eligibility under review, to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.The government is continuing to provide targeted cost of living support for households most in need. Through the Household Support Fund, the government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of household essentials, on top of what has been provided since October 2021. This brings the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. This helps those in most need with payments towards the rising cost of food, energy, and water.

Special Educational Needs: Transport

Christopher Pincher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will increase transport provision for children with SEND requirements who live within three miles of their schools and are over 8 years old.

Kelly Tolhurst: The government’s home to school transport policy aims to ensure that no child is unable to access education because of a lack of transport. Local authorities must provide free home to school transport for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest suitable school and live beyond the statutory walking distance (2 miles for children under 8, and 3 miles for children aged 8 and over) or live within the walking distance but would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs or disability, or because the route is unsafe.A child who attends their nearest suitable school and would not be able to walk there because of their special educational needs or disability will be eligible for free home to school transport even if they live less than the statutory walking distance from their school. Where a child has an education, health and care plan, the school named in the plan will usually be considered to be their nearest suitable school for transport purposes. Home to school travel and transport guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel-and-transport-guidance.

Schools: Uniforms

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will issue guidance limiting the amount of branded clothing that schools may require pupils to wear as part of school uniform, in order to reduce the financial burden on low-income families.

Jonathan Gullis: In November last year, the department published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms, to which schools must have regard when designing and implementing their uniform policies. The guidance, which comes into effect this month, requires schools to ensure that their uniform is affordable and secures best value for money for parents, including keeping branded items to a minimum and limiting them to low-cost or long-lasting items.It also requires schools to:Give the highest priority to cost and value for money in their supply arrangements.Make second-hand uniform available for parents to acquire.Publish their uniform policy on their website and ensure that this is easily understood.Engage with parents and pupils on cost issues when they are developing their uniform policy.School leaders know their pupils and the community they serve best and can make decisions on the branded items that are most appropriate to their school. Branded items create a sense of common identity and prevent pupils from competing against one another in the latest fashion trends. The guidance requires school leaders to consider carefully the overall cost implications of their chosen approach, including whether requiring a branded item is the most cost-effective way of achieving the desired result for their uniform.The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms/cost-of-school-uniforms.

STEM Subjects: Teachers

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to attract (a) science, (b) technology, (c) engineering, and (d) mathematics teachers in disadvantaged areas.

Kelly Tolhurst: The department has announced funding for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects for those training in the 2022/23 academic year. As graduates in these subjects attract the highest salaries outside teaching, we are offering a £24,000 tax-free bursary or a £26,000 tax-free scholarship in chemistry, computing, mathematics, and physics. This reflects the priority we place on training teachers to teach STEM subjects.We are offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free annually for maths, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers, who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

Pupils: Feltham and Heston

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in Feltham and Heston constituency have over 40 per cent of students in IDACI bands A to F.

Jonathan Gullis: The Department uses income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI) bands to allocate funding through the schools and high needs National Funding Formulae (NFF). We calculate IDACI bands using IDACI ranks to group Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) into seven bands of decreasing deprivation.The schools NFF allocates funding for pupils aged 5 to 16 in mainstream schools. The data used for the 2023/24 financial year NFF allocations show 30 schools in Feltham and Heston constituency have over 40% of students in IDACI bands A to F. There are 36 schools in Feltham and Heston in scope for the schools NFF.Schools in Feltham and Heston attract an increase of 7.8% per pupil for their NFF pupil-led funding across two years to academic year 2023/24 compared to 2021/22.The high needs NFF allocates funding at local authority level. As such, the Department does not hold data on IDACI bands at special and alterative provision school level.

National Curriculum Tests

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the loss of key stage 2 assessment papers from the most recent academic year, what options for redress his Department has with Capita.

Jonathan Gullis: The Standard and Testing Agency’s (STA) contract with Capita contains a range of performance metrics that allow for a reduced fee to be paid in the event of performance levels dropping below a defined threshold. The contract is actively managed by departmental staff. Where performance levels are unsatisfactory, the levers in the contract are used alongside constructive dialogue with the supplier to ensure improved performance in future. In extreme cases of poor performance, the contract with Capita allows for a variety of remedial actions to be taken. Dependent on the circumstances, these could include termination of the agreement or a temporary period of closer control of the service by the Department. STA makes use of financial levers to incentivise performance by Capita.STA will be working with Capita to conduct a thorough review of our processes for future test cycles, to reduce the possibility of missing papers occurring in the future. The Department will be involving schools and other stakeholders in this process and will communicate the outcome to them later in the academic year.

Special Educational Needs

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase school places available for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Kelly Tolhurst: The department is investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to support local authorities to deliver new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), or who require alternative provision (AP). This represents a significant, transformational investment in new high needs provision. It will support local authorities to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings, and will also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.As part of this commitment, in March 2022, the department announced High Needs Provision Capital Allocations amounting to over £1.4 billion of new investment, focused on the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years. In June 2022, the department announced we will build up to 60 new, centrally delivered special and AP free schools. The application process for special schools opened on 10 June 2022.This is alongside an increase in high needs revenue funding, which is rising by £1.65 billion over two years, between the 2021/22 and 2023/4 financial years. This is an increase of 21%, bringing total high needs revenue funding to over £9.7 billion by 2023/24. In addition, the department is continuing to work with local authorities with the highest dedicated schools grant deficits as part of the safety valve programme and the introduction of the Delivering Better Value programme.

Pupils: Sanitary Protection

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to make the free period products scheme permanent.

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make the free period products scheme permanent.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to make the free period products scheme permanent.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make the free period products scheme permanent.

Kelly Tolhurst: The period products scheme launched in January 2020, and has most recently been extended until July 2024.The department will make information available about any extensions or changes to the scheme in due course.

Pupils: Sanitary Protection

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will issue guidance to schools and colleges on consulting with students on period products in the context of the period product scheme.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) evaluate the free period products scheme; and if his Department will issue guidance to schools and colleges on consulting with students on period products.

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will issue guidance to schools and colleges on consulting with students on period products in the context of the free period products scheme.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will issue guidance to schools and colleges on consulting with students on period products in the context of the free period products scheme.

Kelly Tolhurst: Guidance regarding the free period products scheme, including the new range of products available was updated on 8 September, the same day eligible organisations can order. This was developed in line with research from schools and colleges, and period product experts. The guidance states that schools and colleges know their learners best and, therefore, have the freedom to select the most suitable products for their learners considering cost and type of product. All eligible organisations were emailed in early September to remind them of their log in details and a link to the guidance will be provided.

Pupils: Encopresis

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children in primary schools affected by encopresis; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing specialised care for those children while at school.

Kelly Tolhurst: Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.The department does not collect data on the number of children in primary schools affected by encopresis.The government is committed to all pupils with medical conditions being properly supported at school, so they have full access to education.In 2014, the government introduced a duty on schools to support pupils with all medical conditions and it has published statutory guidance on this for schools. The guidance can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.The guidance does not specify which medical conditions should be supported in schools. Instead, it focuses on how to meet the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life.

Pupils: Sanitary Protection

Margaret Ferrier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) evaluate the free period products scheme.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) evaluate the free period products scheme.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) evaluate the free period products scheme.

Kelly Tolhurst: The period products scheme launched in January 2020, and has most recently been extended until July 2024. Take up of the scheme is monitored regularly by the department and our supplier, phs. Within the first two years of the scheme, 94% of secondary schools and 90% of post-16 organisations had ordered at least once. These organisations have older students and therefore are more likely to have a higher proportion of students in scope, compared to primary schools.The department publishes statistics regarding the scheme’s operation, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information.The department is considering opportunities to publish further management information in the future, as well as the need for further research into the scheme to evaluate its impact.

Classroom Assistants: Termination of Employment

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of teaching assistants who have left the education sector in each of the last five years.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to improve the recruitment and retention of teaching assistants to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the current vacancy rate for teaching assistants for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools.

Jonathan Gullis: Schools have the freedom to recruit teaching assistants according to their own circumstances. Schools have recruited an additional 10,000 teaching assistants in the last two years, according to the school workforce census. There are now 275,812 teaching assistants which is the highest on record. The Department does not collect vacancy numbers as part of the census.The Department committed to help schools with their recruitment, use and training of teaching assistants in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, and refresh of the school resource management guidance. The Department will work with schools to understand how best the Government can help.

GCE A-level and GCSE

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of attainment in (a) GCSE and (b) A-Level this year in England.

Kelly Tolhurst: Ofqual have previously announced a planned and managed transition back to pre-COVID-19 pandemic grading arrangements, in recognition of the disruption that students experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, 2022 has been described as a transition year and overall, the results have reflected the policy intention for outcomes this year to be between 2019 and 2021. This year’s results are higher than in 2019 and lower than 2021, when teacher assessed grades were used as the method of assessment.The Joint Council for Qualifications and Ofqual have published further breakdowns of results for GCSE and A levels according to gender, centre type and by region. At a regional level, the trends are broadly stable compared to previous years, with London and the South East having the highest proportion of entries for A level and GCSEs and achieving the highest grades. In 2022, girls continue to outperform boys at all grades overall for GCSEs and A levels.Results by other pupil characteristics, including disadvantage, are not yet available for GCSEs or A levels. The department publishes this data in as timely a way as possible. This year, improvements to processing mean it is possible bring forward the publishing of this data from January 2023 to October 2022 for GCSEs, and to November 2022 for A levels.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Sub-Saharan Africa

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many departmental ministerial visits have been made to sub-Saharan Southern Africa since 2019.

James Duddridge: Department for International Trade Ministers have visited sub–Saharan Africa once since the start of 2019. Former Minister for Exports, the Member for Finchley and Golders Green, visited Nigeria and South Africa in May 2022. As a former FCO, DFID and FCDO Africa Minister I will be visiting the continent more frequently and will lead on development issues in the department and will help grow Africa out of poverty.

Overseas Trade: Russia

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of UK sanctions against Russia on reducing trade with that country.

James Duddridge: With allies, we continue to impose the most severe economic sanctions Russia has faced, stifling the Russian economy. According to Department for International Trade analysis of HMRC trade data, UK-Russia trade in goods that is now wholly or partially sanctioned was worth £19bn in 2021. Office for National Statistics analysis shows that UK goods exports to Russia in June 2022 were 67% lower than average monthly exports in the 12 months to February 2022, while UK goods imports from Russia were 97% lower. This was the lowest value of UK goods imports from Russia since records began in January 1997.

Developing Countries Trading Scheme

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her Department’s announcement of the updated Developing Countries Trading Scheme on 15 August, which product lines were raised at least once by respondents to the consultation with reference over concerns of preference erosion for Least Developed Countries.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to her Department’s announcement of the updated Developing Countries Trading Scheme on 15 August 2022, which product lines continue to have tariffs for Low Income Countries and Lower-Middle Income Countries to avoid preference erosion for Least Developed Countries.

James Duddridge: The Developing Countries Trading Scheme is one of the most generous trade preferences schemes in the world and provides duty free access on everything but arms to Least Developed Counties. During the consultation into the scheme in 2021, the majority of respondents that raised the issue of preference erosion for Least Developed Countries did not specify individual product lines of concern. Those that did, highlighted the following product lines: cocoa, sugar and bananas. Tariffs remain unchanged for non-Least Developed Countries within the scheme on these product lines.

Department for International Trade: Energy

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department spent on energy in each of the last three years.

James Duddridge: The Department has spent the following on energy in the last three financial years:-  2019-2020 - £918,0002020-2021 - £428,0002021-2022 - £308,000

Sanctions: Russia

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps the Government is taking to help prevent any goods looted by Russian forces in Ukraine that have entered non-combatant countries being imported into the UK.

James Duddridge: The government has announced the strongest set of economic sanctions ever imposed against a major economy, to help cripple Putin’s war machine. These measures have been implemented in coordination with our international allies and include a comprehensive set of actions targeting imports on a range of Russian military, energy-sector and revenue generating goods. Such measures include the prohibition of all imports consigned from or originating in non-government controlled Ukrainian territory. This means that even if the immediate location the goods were shipped from was not non-government controlled Ukrainian territory, the prohibition would still apply.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Myanmar: Politics and Government

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to work with the international community to address (a) political violence in Myanmar and (b) executions of political opponents by the Government of Myanmar.

Jesse Norman: The UK condemns the widespread violence and conflict across Myanmar, which has resulted in a major humanitarian crisis. We call on the military to exercise restraint and respect international law. We continue to work with international partners, including at the UN, G7 and ASEAN, to try to bring an end to the crisis. The UK has imposed targeted and coordinated sanctions and is working with international partners to tackle the flow of arms to Myanmar. We have also used our leadership role in the UN and G7 to secure strong statements condemning the crisis.The UK opposes the use of the death penalty across the world and advocates its abolition. Following the announcement of the execution of four pro-democracy and opposition leaders on 25 July, we issued a joint statement with our allies in the EU, US, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Norway, and coordinated a UN Security Council Press Statement, to condemn the regime's actions in the strongest terms.

Myanmar: Coronavirus

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking with the international community to address the ongoing covid-19 pandemic in Myanmar.

Jesse Norman: In response to the Covid-19 crisis in Myanmar, the UK has adapted its healthcare programmes to focus on immediate response and longer-term recovery activities. Last year the UK provided £11 million for the COVID-19 and broader healthcare response in Myanmar, which was delivered through the UN, civil society and ethnic health organisations.

Development Aid: Public Expenditure

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what her Department counts as non-essential aid in the context of the suspension by HM Treasury of non-essential aid spending until September.

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether HM Treasury's suspension of non-essential aid spend until September applied to humanitarian aid spending.

Vicky Ford: The Government has provided significant support for Ukraine and taken a leading role in international diplomatic, economic, humanitarian, and military assistance. Some of this urgent support to Ukraine is classed as Official Development Assistance (ODA). Given the Government's response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, wider ODA pressures, including the ODA-eligible expenditure incurred through the Afghan resettlement programme and the UK's support to people fleeing Ukraine, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and other ODA spending departments will need to revisit initial allocations to ensure all ODA-eligible spending is managed within 0.5% of GNI this calendar year.To achieve this, the Government is currently prioritising critical overseas aid funding, while also meeting needs of people seeking sanctuary in the UK from conflict in Ukraine and Afghanistan. We will prioritise spending that is vital to protect against immediate threat to life and wellbeing, will prevent people falling into humanitarian need, or will prevent delays to accessing healthcare, primary education, sanitation and clean water, in addition to considering the value for money of any decisions.

Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Prime Minister will attend the Global Fund Seventh Replenishment Pledging Event on the 19 September 2022 hosted by the President of the United States.

Vicky Ford: The Prime Minister was not able to attend the Global Fund Seventh Replenishment due to scheduling conflicts. I attended in her place.

Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Prime Minister and (b) his US counterparts on the Global Fund's replenishment.

Vicky Ford: The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary remain engaged on discussions around the UK's pledge to the Global Fund.

Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will make it her policy to increase the UK’s contribution to the Global Fund’s for its Seventh Replenishment.

Vicky Ford: The UK is proud to be the Global Fund's third largest donor historically, investing over £4.4 billion since 2002. At the seventh replenishment pledging conference the UK committed to remain a strong supporter of the Global Fund and to announce our pledge in the coming weeks.

HIV Infection

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference the UNAIDS report entitled In Danger, published on 2 July 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of that reports findings; and what steps her Department plans to take to help reduce (a) global HIV transmission and (b) AIDS related deaths.

Vicky Ford: The UNAIDS 'In Danger' report highlights the disproportionate impact that the HIV epidemic still has on particular regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, and key populations, such as women, girls and children.As part of efforts to end the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children, the UK funds UNAIDS, the Robert Carr Fund and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The UK also supports a range of research on HIV and AIDS, such as the development, through the International Partnership on Microbiocides, of the dapivirine ring. This is the first long-acting HIV prevention product for women of its kind. The UK also invests in health systems strengthening to improve access to quality health services, including services for the prevention of HIV and to reduce AIDS related deaths.

Tigray: Politics and Government

Dame Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the (a) humanitarian, (b) political and (c) human rights situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Dame Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support the peace talks in the Tigray region in Ethiopia.

Gillian Keegan: The breakdown of the truce and return to conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Government is catastrophic for the people of Ethiopia. It risks tens of thousands of deaths, both directly through fighting and indirectly through a further deepening of the already dire humanitarian situation. 22 months since fighting began, it is clear that there is no military solution to the conflict.There is currently no humanitarian access to Tigray by land or air. The UK is urging all parties to the conflict to ensure humanitarian access to northern Ethiopia, including by immediately reinstating the cessation of hostilities. We remain confident that progress towards peace can be made if talks begin. We have welcomed the commitment by both parties to ending the conflict through dialogue, and are now urging both parties to deliver on these commitments and to begin African Union-led peace talks.The 19 September report by the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations, such as extrajudicial killings, rape, sexual violence, and the starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare have been committed in Ethiopia since the conflict began. The breakdown of the truce risks further atrocities. Our Embassy in Addis Ababa is engaging with all parties of the conflict and urging them to prioritise the protection of civilians and cease fighting.

Tigray: Humanitarian Aid

Dame Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact of the resumption of violence on delivering humanitarian assistance and supplies to Ethiopia's Tigray region.

Gillian Keegan: The conflict in Ethiopia has contributed to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, leaving 13 million people in Tigray, Amhara and Afar requiring humanitarian assistance. The breakdown of the truce between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian Government, and the renewed involvement of Eritrea, is catastrophic for the people of Ethiopia and makes the work of humanitarian agencies much more difficult. There is currently no humanitarian access to Tigray by land or air. This is having a devastating impact on food security, access to healthcare and other humanitarian needs.The UK urges all parties to the conflict to guarantee unfettered humanitarian access by immediately ceasing hostilities and allowing aid in.

International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to Statement on freedom of religion or belief and gender equality, published on 7 July 2022, for what reason the statement was amended to remove references to (a) sexual and reproductive health and rights and bodily autonomy and (b) supporting and building capacities of local religious and belief leaders to advocate for gender equality, denounce sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices and ensure access to sexual and reproductive health and rights; and what assessments she has made of (i) the effect of those changes on overall number of international signatories to that statement, (ii) the efficacy of the statement for increasing international protections of reproductive rights and (iii) the efficacy of the statement for increasing gender equality internationally.

Gillian Keegan: The UK is committed to defending and promoting universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and will continue working with other countries to protect gender equality in international agreements.In our capacity as Chair of the event, we amended the statement we made at the Freedom of Religion or Belief Conference to make the final statement more inclusive of all perspectives and views to allow for a constructive exchange of views on all issues. The UK continues to fund support and lead on issues of gender including on SRHR, through initiatives related to Women, Peace and Security and Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Ministry of Defence

Air Force: Training

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June to Question 11845 on Air Force: Recruitment, how many jet pilots were trained in each year since 2015.

James Heappey: In answering this question I have determined jet pilots to mean fast jet pilots. The current number of fast jet pilots that have graduated from their Conversion to Type training in each complete calendar year since 2015 is as follows: PlatformFast Jet Pilots Trained by Calendar Year Financial Year2015201620172018201920202021Typhoon30202020304020Lightning~~101010~10Total30303030304020 In accordance with the Data Protection Act and our obligations in relation to the protection of confidentiality when handling personal data, data have been rounded to the nearest 10, where "-" denotes zero and "~" denotes a number less than or equal to 5. Due to the rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. The RAF has sufficient qualified aircrew to meet its frontline operational commitments.

Afghanistan: Refugees

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his Department's policy that cases concerning injuries to locally employed civilians who were resettled in the UK under the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and (b) ex gratia scheme will be (i) assessed and (ii) compensated in the same way as those of UK (A) armed forced personnel and (B) veterans.

James Heappey: The Government remains committed to awarding appropriate payments to former locally employed staff in Afghanistan who were injured as a result of their employment with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Those locally employed staff would not be assessed in the same way as members of the UK Armed Forces or veterans because they were never members of the UK military.However, payments are based on Judicial College guidelines that inform personal injury cases, and our published criteria, but were also designed to reflect the socio-economic conditions of Afghanistan. For those Afghans who were injured and then subsequently resettled to the UK, a review was conducted in 2017 to ensure their medical payments were uplifted to reflect the socio-economic conditions of the UK where they are now living.In 2020 the Government published the Ex-Gratia Medical payments review policy https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ex-gratia-medical-payments-reviewsThis enables individuals who wish to have their cases re-assessed and those whose condition has deteriorated beyond their original prognosis, or those who have developed a late-onset condition, to receive a fair full and final payment without prejudice.

Department for Work and Pensions

Department for Work and Pensions: Staff

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on staff working on (a) mandatory reconsideration and (b) appeals against Personal Independence Payment decisions in each year since 2012-13.

Victoria Prentis: The information for the financial years covered by the request are detailed in the tables below:  PIP2012-13  (£m)2013-14  (£m)2014-15  (£m)2015-16  (£m)2016-17  (£m)2017-18  (£m)2018-19  (£m)2019-20  (£m)2020-21 (£m)2021-22 (£m)Mandatory Reconsiderations£0.0£0.5£4.7£8.9£9.7£15.4£20.1£23.7£24.8£28.5Appeals£0.0£0.2£3.7£11.0£23.5£35.0£24.4£27.4£23.9£19.6 Cost figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1mData Source: ABMThe cost figures quoted are estimated DWP level 1 operating costs, including both direct delivery staff and non-staff costs. Non-staff costs are only those costs incurred in local cost centres, relating to direct delivery staff.Please note that the data supplied is from the Departmental Activity Based Models. This data is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internalDepartmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or OfficialStatistics publication standards. It should therefore be treated with caution. The Departmental Activity Based staffing models are a snapshot of how many people were identified as undertaking specified activities as assigned by line managers.Appeals costs relate to the costs of processing the Appeals and include expenditure relating to DWP Presenting Officer who attend some Tribunals.There were no PIP Mandatory Reconsiderations or Appeals costs for 2012/13, following the introduction of the benefit.

Pension Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for Pension Credit were made in each month since January 2022; and how many and what proportion of these new claims were successful.

Alex Burghart: Estimates of the number of Pension Credit claims since January 2022 are available in four-weekly groupings. Data on the number and proportion of Pension Credit claims that lead to successful awards are not available. This management information has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but are provided here in the interests of transparency. Time PeriodNumber of PC Claims3rd January- 30th January 202213,11131st January – 27th February 202215,82428th February – 27th March 202217,29628th March – 24th April 202214,48925th April – 22nd May 202214,79323rd May – 19th June 202218,16020th June – 17th July 202222,20518th July – 14th August 202226,11715th August – 11th September 202226,564

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Pets: Animal Welfare

Alex Davies-Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the increase in household bills on pet welfare.

Mark Spencer: The Government is actively considering the impact of rising bills on all aspects of people’s lives. Defra is in close contact with animal welfare organisations and meets them regularly to understand issues that are affecting the sector, including the impact of rising bills.

Sewage: Waste Disposal

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the reduction in the Environment Agency's funding in the last 10 years on the control of sewage output into the natural environment.

Mark Spencer: Defra and its agencies received an additional £4.3 billion in the last Spending Review much of which is invested, through the Environment Agency, in protecting our environment. This included new funding for the Environment Agency to undertake 500 additional water company inspections over the spending review period. This is in addition to their routine regulation of water companies, funded through annual subsistence charges. We are also introducing new legal requirements to increase the monitoring of sewage discharges.

Home Office

Refugees: Afghanistan

Anne McLaughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Afghan refugees who applied to the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme are in the UK as on 2 September 2022.

Tom Pursglove: Afghans resettling in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will be supported in accessing accommodation and the vital health, education, and support into employment they need, to fully integrate into society.The Department for Education have confirmed that individuals resettling under these schemes who wish to access higher education, are eligible for home fee status and student support from the 2022/23 academic year - putting them on the same footing as refugees. At this time, the Home Office is working to improve the data it holds on those who have accessed higher education among those being temporarily accommodated in hotels.All children who were evacuated during Op Pitting have been enrolled in school - and school places are offered on a rolling basis, as more children arrive in the UK. .As stated in the recently published, 'Afghan Resettlement: Operational Data' factsheet, at 12 Aug 2022, the UK:Has welcomed 21,450 people to the UK from Afghanistan - or a neighbouring country - since June 2021. Whilst we believe that around half of this number are children, we are unable, at this time, to provide an accurate breakdown of arrivals by age, in order to determine how many children are in full-time education.Is providing temporary accommodation for 9,667 people in hotels.Officials are working at pace to assure information relating to the individuals resettling in the UK under our bespoke schemes for Afghans on case working systems. Once this work concludes, the Home Office will include Afghan resettlement statistics in its quarterly Immigration Statistics publications.Until then the factsheet will be updated every quarter - with the next iteration scheduled for publication on 24 November 2022.

Visas: British National (Overseas)

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will publish (a) a timetable for the introduction of the British National (Overseas) visa extension to young people from Hong Kong and (b) eligibility criteria for that visa extension.

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to allow the financial requirements of 18–25 year-old British National (Overseas) visa applicants to be sponsored by a third-party.

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the British National (Overseas) visa extension will apply to young people whose British National (Overseas) parents are now both deceased.

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether young people from Hong Kong who have overstayed their current visa leave out of fear of returning to Hong Kong due to their political activity will be able to switch into the British National (Overseas) visa from within the UK.

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether young people from Hong Kong who are currently in the UK on visitor leave will be able to transition into the British National (Overseas) visa if they are eligible when it extends to them in November 2022.

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the process is for eligible young people from Hong Kong currently in the UK asylum system to transfer to the British Nationals (Overseas) visa from November 2022 onward.

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government’s visa support for young people from Hong Kong will extend to allowing those people to include years spent in the UK on a student visa toward the five year route to settlement for British National (Overseas) visa holders.

Tom Pursglove: On 24 February 2022, the Government announced in a Written Ministerial Statement a change to the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route which will allow adult children of BN(O) status holders born on or after the 1 July 1997, who are currently unable to apply for the BN(O) route independently to do so. The statement is available at: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK ParliamentThe change to allow adult children of BN(O) status holders born on or after 1 July 1997 to apply to the route independently of their parents is currently scheduled to come into effect this Autumn at which point further information, including full eligibility criteria, will be published on GOV.UK.Under the new provisions, children born on or after 1 July 1997, whose deceased parent held BN(O) status, will be able to qualify for the route, providing they meet all other requirements for the route. Applicants will need to show evidence of the BN(O) status of at least one parent. As is the case on the BN(O) route now, those who enter the UK with a Student or Visitor visa will be able to apply to switch into the BN(O) route. They will need to apply before the expiry of their current visa or grant of permission. Under the Immigration Rules, individuals applying for the BN(O) route must not be in breach of immigration laws. This includes overstaying, except where certain limited circumstances apply as set out paragraph 39E of the Immigration Rules. Only time spent in the UK on either the BN(O) route or another route which leads to settlement can count towards the five-year qualifying period for settlement as a BN(O), with the most recent grant of permission required to be on the BN(O) route. Time spent in the UK on a Student visa does not count towards settlement. All applicants to the BN(O) route need to demonstrate they can maintain and accommodate themselves and their family members for at least six months without access to public funds. Applicants can rely on credible offers of financial support and/or accommodation from a third party (for example, a relative or friend) to meet this requirement. Individuals with an outstanding asylum claim must write to the Home Office to withdraw their claim before they can apply to the BN(O) route. Further information is available here: Withdrawing asylum applications - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Home Office: Members

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the MP Account Management Team response to the backlog of MPs' enquiries through individual telephone calls or meetings.

Tom Pursglove: Face to face engagement events and telephone surgeries are integral parts of both improving the service we provide for MPs, and enabling us to respond effectively to the record number of enquiries over the past two years. We have received positive feedback from MPs who have accessed this service and been responding to requests to provide it. It is our aim to clear the backlog by the end of February 2023, and we are currently tracking above forecast.

Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority: Inspections

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many inspections were conducted by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority on farms employing people with Seasonal Workers Visas in each financial year since 2018-19.

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many inspections were conducted by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority on businesses in the agricultural sector in each financial year since 2018-19.

Tom Pursglove: The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) does not routinely inspect farms employing people with Seasonal Workers Scheme visas, as the workers are employed directly by the farms or growers.The GLAA does not hold site specific data in a format that can be extracted from their systems and will not only visit agricultural settings, but also food processing and shellfish gathering sites. Details on their inspection work are available here: Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority - Performance Reports - GLAA.

Immigration Controls

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken steps to implement changes in general policy arising from the decision published on 14 January 2022 on the case of R(on the application of SGW) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Biometrics – family reunion policy).

Tom Pursglove: The Home Office has published updated biometric policy and family reunion guidance on GOV.UK clarifying that an individual must, in most circumstances, provide their biometrics when applying for a visa or a biometric immigration document to come to the UK.

British Nationality

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take legislative steps to create (a) English, (b) Irish, (c) Scottish and (d) Welsh citizen status.

Tom Pursglove: British citizenship is the nationality defined in the British Nationality Act 1981, held by those with a close connection to the UK. There are no plans to change this.

Asylum

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers have been referred to the Home Office Safeguarding and Welfare Hub by Migrant Help in the last 12 months; and what support the Hub provides to asylum seekers who have raised concerns about their mental health.

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the role and responsibilities are of the Home Office Safeguarding and Welfare Hub; and what engagement it that body has with asylum seekers in hotel accommodation.

Stephen Farry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what pathways are available for asylum seekers housed in hotels to access mental health support; and what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the services available for those hotel residents.

Tom Pursglove: The number of referrals to the Home Office by Migrant Help during the period 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022 was 11,808. This will include individuals who have been referred more than once. This figure is based on local management information and is subject to change. The Asylum Safeguarding Hub forms a link between the Home Office and those statutory agencies who hold the legal responsibility to support a vulnerable customer. Safeguarding Hub staff advocate for an individual’s needs with the statutory agencies to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity. The Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where someone is at risk they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies of the police, NHS and social services, to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions.The Home Office and its contractors work closely with the NHS, local authorities and non-governmental organisations to ensure that people can access the health care and support they need. Asylum seekers have access to health and social care services from the point of arrival in the UK. All asylum seekers, regardless of the type of accommodation, have the same access to free NHS services in the same way as British citizens and other permanent residents.

Migrant Workers: Health Services

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of temporarily dropping (a) visa and (b) leave to remain fees for healthcare workers.

Tom Pursglove: Individuals applying to enter or for limited leave to remain on the Health and Care Visa already pay significantly reduced visa fees. In addition, they are also exempt from having to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge making applications significantly cheaper. These benefits apply to main applicants and their dependants.More broadly, fees for migration and borders products and services play a vital role in our country’s ability to run a sustainable system. We believe it is right that those who use the system should contribute to its cost, thereby reducing the burden on the UK taxpayer.

Migrants: Cost of Living

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending her policy on No Recourse to Public Funds in the context of (a) rising food prices and (b) the ability of foodbanks to meet demand.

Tom Pursglove: Temporary migrants are generally required to support themselves and any accompanying family members, in the UK without recourse to public funds. This is a well-established principle that protects taxpayer-funded public services from becoming overburdened.The Government is committed to protecting vulnerable people and has ensured support has been available to those with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) when it has been appropriate to do so. To assist more families those with NRPF, subject to the relevant income thresholds, can now access free school meals and free early years’ education for two-year-olds.In recognition of the growing cost of living pressures, the £11.7 billion Energy Bills Support Scheme forms part of the £37 billion cost of living assistance package for consumers over the winter of 2022 to 2023 to support families with rising global energy prices. Those with NRPF will be eligible for some support within this scheme.We continue to monitor the impact of the NRPF policy and there are strong and important safeguards in place to ensure migrants with NRPF can receive support.

Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre: Legal Profession

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2022 to Question 32512 on Derwent Immigration Removal Centre: Legal Profession and the Answer of 5 September 2022 to Question 40757 on Derwent Immigration Removal Centre: Legal Profession, how many in-person visits have been made by lawyers to women in Derwentside immigration removal centre (a) under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme and (b) in total since 8 July 2022.

Tom Pursglove: The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in immigration removal centres (IRCs) in England under the Detained Duty Advice Scheme (DDAS). Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.Individuals detained in IRCs can also access privately commissioned legal advice, including legally aided advice provided through means other than the DDAS.Access to legal advice across the immigration removal estate is facilitated through remote means (by telephone and video conferencing) as well as in-person visits on request. All people in IRCs are provided with a mobile phone and have access to landline telephones on request, fax machines, email and video calling facilities, which can be used to contact legal representatives, family, or friends. Between 8 July 2022 and 21 September 2022, there have been a total of 38 in-person legal visits at Derwentside IRC. All 38 appointments have been facilitated by the DDAS.

Home Office: Training

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions the provision of mandatory training for her Departmental staff regarding their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 has been cited by her Department as a defence against Section 109 proceedings since the commencement of that Act.

Tom Pursglove: The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost

Visas: British National (Overseas)

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of reports that adult dependent relatives of British Nationals (Overseas) have experienced visa processing delays of over a year; and if she will make a statement.

Tom Pursglove: A number of adult dependent relative cases were placed on hold pending consideration of the policy position to ensure the approach to assessing adult dependent relative applications on the Hong Kong British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) route was correct.The necessary steps have now been taken to resolve adult dependent relative applications made under the BN(O) route and UK Visas and Immigration have begun decision-making against this cohort as a matter of priority. This process will be completed by the end of the year.

Merseyside Police: Recruitment

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional police officers have been recruited by Merseyside Police since December 2019.

Jeremy Quin: As part of the Police Officer Uplift Programme, the Home Office publishes a quarterly update on the number of officers in England and Wales, broken down by Police Force Area. Data are available here: Police Officer uplift statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Table U2 of the data tables accompanying this quarterly publication provides a breakdown of these additional officers by month since October 2019. In addition to these data tables, information on the number of police officers (headcount) and new joiners for each month since April 2020 are published in an open data format.As at 30 June 2022, Merseyside Police have recruited 611 additional police officers attributable to the Police Uplift Programme. This is against an allocation to recruit 665 additional police officers by March 2023.

Gamma Hydroxybutyrate

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what data her Department holds on the number of (a) confirmed and (b) estimated cases of (i) sexual assault, (ii) rape, (iii) murder and (iv) other serious crimes in which the GHB drug was used.

Jeremy Quin: The Home Office does not collect information on whether an offence recorded by the police involved the use of the GHB drug or not.

Gamma Hydroxybutyrate

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the (a) use of, (b) harm caused by and (c) dealing of GHB.

Jeremy Quin: The Government’s Drug Strategy is a whole of government approach to combatting drug misuse, including GHB. It aims to drive down drug supply and demand and support people through treatment and recovery. The strategy is underpinned by nearly £900 million of additional investment over the next three years, taking the total cross-government funding to more than £3 billion, including £780 million to rebuild drug treatment and recovery services, £300 million to tackle the supply of drugs and £25 million to reduce the demand for drugs.In April 2022 the Government reclassified Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB) and the related substances Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4-Butanediol (1,4-BD), from Class C to Class B under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. This followed expert advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which conducted a review of the harms of these substances. The reclassification to Class B maintains the penalty for unlawful supply and increases the maximum penalty for unlawful possession from two years’ imprisonment, or a fine, or both, to five years’ imprisonment, or a fine, or both. This signals to the public that offences involving these substances are treated seriously and subject to appropriate penalties, acting as a deterrent for their possession and supply.

Barbecues

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the (a) fire safety impact of disposable barbeques, (b) environmental impacts of disposable barbeques and (c) merits of a ban on disposable barbeques.

Jeremy Quin: The Government intends to research the issue further, looking at the impact of disposable barbecues, as part of a research project led by Defra. This research will also include the impact of sky lanterns which may be a factor in causing wildfires.Should the evidence indicate that these items represent a risk, we will of course examine the most appropriate options.

Fire and Rescue Services: Pay

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that British firefighter’s real terms pay and conditions are not impacted by the cost of living crisis.

Jeremy Quin: Firefighters pay is the responsibility of the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services.

CCTV: Safer Streets Fund

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will take steps to provide further Safer Street funding for investment in CCTV.

Jeremy Quin: Since the Safer Streets Fund was established in 2020, we have invested £70 million through three rounds – funding a range of evidence-based situational crime prevention measures, including CCTV.Through Round Four of the Fund, which launched in March, we are investing a further £50 million to tackle and prevent not only neighbourhood crime, but also violence against women and girls and anti-social behaviour. 111 successful projects were announced at the end of July and projects, which include delivery of improved and increased CCTV, will run over the 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial years.

Offensive Weapons

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has for the timescale for bringing into force of section 52 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 on the offence of threatening with an offensive weapon etc in a private place.

Jeremy Quin: Section 52 was brought into force on 6 April 2022 by the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (Commencement No. 2 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2022.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Leasehold: Ground Rent

James Daly: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support leaseholders who were negatively affected by ground rent clauses in property transactions prior to 2010.

Lee Rowley: The Government is committed to creating a more transparent housing system that works for everyone. We have brought forward legislation that sets ground rents on newly created leases to zero through the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022, which came into force on 30 June 2022.   We understand the difficulties some existing leaseholders face with high and escalating ground rents. This is why we asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to investigate potential mis-selling of homes and unfair terms in the leasehold sector.   The CMA have secured commitments benefiting over 20,000 leaseholders, including commitments to return doubling ground rent terms to original rates. These settlements will help to free thousands more leaseholders from unreasonable ground rent increases. The CMA continue to engage with a number of firms and we urge other developers to follow suit.

Energy: Housing

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had recent discussions with the (a) Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on improving (i) insulation and (ii) energy efficiency of homes.

Lee Rowley: The energy retrofit policy is primarily led by the Department for Energy and Industrial Strategy. DLUHC continue to work closely with BEIS and the new DLUHC ministerial team look forward to engaging with BEIS colleagues on this. The energy efficiency rating of the housing stock in England has improved from an average of E in 2008 to D in 2020, and the proportion of homes in the lowest energy efficiency bands F and G has fallen from 16.9% in 2008 to 2.7% in 2020.

Treasury

Commodity Markets: Energy and Food

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to commodities trading rules in the Financial Services and Markets Bill on the price of (a) food and (b) energy.

Andrew Griffith: The Government believes effective commodities markets regulation is a key part of ensuring economic stability. This is a lesson reinforced by both the food and financial crises in the 2000s. In response to G20 commitments, the EU put in place a regime that sets limits on the amounts of commodity derivatives that market participants can hold, to ensure speculation does not lead to economic harm. The Government supports the application of position limits to the most volatile commodities (including key energy and agricultural products). However, the regime that we have inherited from the EU is overly complicated, needlessly burdensome and poorly designed. In particular, it unnecessarily captures all exchange traded and economically equivalent over-the-counter commodity derivative contracts including those that have low levels of volatility and risk. This undermines efficient pricing in many such contracts and creates burdens for firms. To address this, the Financial Services and Markets Bill will ensure exchanges can once again set position limits, within a framework set by the FCA. Exchanges are well placed to ensure that such position limits only apply to contracts that are subject to high volatility. Agricultural products and other key physically settled contracts such as oil and gas will remain subject to position limits. The FCA will also retain powers to intervene to set position limits if need be. These changes were consulted[1] on and received broad support and are in line with the Government’s G20 commitments. [1] Wholesale Markets Review Consultation: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/998165/WMR_condoc_FINAL_OFFICIAL_SENSITIVE_.pdfWholesale Markets Review Response: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1057897/Wholesale_Markets_Review_Consultation_Response.pdf

Cooperatives and Mutual Societies

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of cooperatives and mutuals in his industrial plan for the country.

Andrew Griffith: Co-operatives and mutuals contribute to the UK economy by offering a different form of running a business, with a focus on delivering the services their members and communities need.The Government has improved the business environment for co-operatives and mutuals through the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 which cut through the legal complexity involved in running a co-operative, improving their competitiveness. The ability of co-operatives to raise £100,000 of withdrawable share capital per member, increased from £20,000 in 2014, has ensured that co-operatives have the flexibility to raise funding and compete more effectively with companies.Furthermore, following the interest rate cap rise from two per cent to three per cent in 2014, credit unions have expanded into higher-risk markets and provide an important alternative to high-cost lenders. The prize-linked savings scheme, which was offered through credit unions, increased individuals’ financial resilience and raise awareness of credit unions. Credit unions have also benefited from the distribution of dormant asset funding by Fair4All Finance, including their £5m COVID-19 resilience fund.At Budget 2021, the Government also announced the £150m Community Ownership Fund. This will allow community groups to bid for up to £250,000 matched-funding to help them buy or take over local community assets at risk of being lost and run them as community-owned businesses, supporting co-operative entrepreneurship. In the first round of the fund, the Government funded 38 bids, totaling £10.07 million. Twenty-six of these projects were in England totaling £7.6 million; six in Scotland totaling £1.2 million; three in Wales totaling £460,000; and three in Northern Ireland totaling £780,000. Second round bids are currently being assessed and funding decisions will be announced in due course. The Government will continue to support the growth of the mutuals sector. Through the Financial Services and Markets Bill, the Government will enable credit unions in Great Britain to offer a wider range of products and services, thereby supporting the growth, diversification, and development of the sector.

Cash Dispensing

Imran Hussain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Government plans to bring forward legislation setting geographic requirements to ensure the provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities to meet cash needs.

Andrew Griffith: The Government has introduced legislation to protect access to cash through Clause 47 and Schedule 8 of the Financial Services and Markets Bill. The Bill intends to establish the Financial Conduct Authority as the lead regulator for cash access and provide it with appropriate powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities. The Bill enables HM Treasury to set out the Government’s policy on cash access in respect of cash withdrawal and deposit services, and for urban and rural areas. The FCA will be required to have regard to this in carrying out its responsibilities under the legislation. The Government will set out further details in due course. Further details about the Financial Services and Markets Bill can be found on the Parliament website: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3326

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Platinum Jubilee 2022: Medals

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to extend the qualifying criteria for Platinum Jubilee Medals to those working in voluntary sector organisations providing support to public services such as York Rescue Boat.

Stuart Andrew: The Platinum Jubilee Medal criteria was agreed across the government, Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies, and has been determined on the basis of the precedent for previous commemorative Jubilee medals.To qualify for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal recipients must be in an eligible public sector role in a frontline emergency service accessed via a call to the 999 emergency telephone number, or equivalent.

Platinum Jubilee 2022: Medals

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the total number of Platinum Jubilee Medals to be awarded.

Stuart Andrew: DCMS does not hold this information. Individual Departments, the Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies are responsible for making eligibility decisions regarding the award of the Medal to their staff and other organisations that fall under their sponsorship. Medals are ordered directly from the Ministry of Defence Medal Office and the process of determining the eligibility of individuals is still being undertaken by government Departments, Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies. The Ministry of Defence will be able to confirm the overall numbers of medals provided to departments and cost details once the initial distribution of Medals is complete.

York Rescue Boat: Platinum Jubilee 2022

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether workers at York Rescue Boat are eligible for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal.

Stuart Andrew: To qualify for The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal recipients must be in an eligible public sector role in a frontline emergency service accessed via a call to the 999 emergency telephone number, or equivalent.Individual departments, the Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies are responsible for applying the criteria and making eligibility decisions regarding the award of the Medal to their staff and other organisations that fall under their sponsorship. The criteria are in line with that of the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

Gyms and Leisure

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help improve the affordability of leisure centres and gyms for low-income households.

Stuart Andrew: Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and everyone, regardless of their background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities. Leisure centres and gyms are not just great places to be active, they also provide vital social spaces and community hubs.Throughout the pandemic, the government provided the £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund which supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country, protecting access to these facilities for those who most needed them.Sport England has developed tools and guidance to assist local authorities with the strategic planning of leisure facilities and services to encourage low-income and other disadvantaged groups to be active in the facilities they operate for their communities. This guidance assists local authorities to determine what the local strategic outcomes and priorities are for their area and the local residents. Local Authorities and their operating partners are encouraged to consider how concessionary pricing and other subsidised activities can help in achieving this.

Football Governance Fan-led Review

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Government response to the Fan-Led Review of Football Governance, published on 25 April 2022, CP 658, whether she still plans to implement the recommendations of that review; and if she will make a statement.

Stuart Andrew: The Government published its response to the recommendations made by the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance in April 2022. We absolutely recognise the need for football to be reformed to ensure the game’s sustainability in the long term. We are now taking the time to consider the policy, but we remain committed to publishing a White Paper setting out our detailed response to the fan led review of football governance, and will set this out in due course.

Public Consultation

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing new deliberative democracy processes (a) in local communities and (b) for national policy issues.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the guidance entitled The Innovation in Democracy Programme, published on 30 May 2019, what recent steps her Department has taken to implement models of deliberative democracy since the conclusion of that programme.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to implement the guidance entitled How to run a citizens’ assembly: A handbook for local authorities based on the Innovation in Democracy Programme, published by her Department on 30 May 2019.

Stuart Andrew: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 20th July 2022 to Question UIN 36813.